Current through all regulations passed and filed through September 16, 2024
(A) What is an
assistance group?
An assistance group is composed of one of the following
individuals or groups of individuals provided they are not residents of an
institution, are not residents of a commercial boarding house, or are not
boarders, except as otherwise specified in paragraph (E) of this rule.
(1) Individual: An individual living alone or
who, while living with others, customarily purchases food and prepares meals
for home consumption separate and apart from the others.
(2) Groups: a group of individuals who live
together and customarily purchase food and prepare meals together for home
consumption.
(3) Spouses: a person
living with his or her spouse, as defined in rule
5101:4-1-03 of the
Administrative Code, shall be considered as customarily purchasing food and
preparing meals together, even when they do not do so.
(4) Children living with their parents: any
person under the age of twenty-two who lives with the parent(s) (natural,
adopted, or step) must be included in the same assistance group with the
parent(s). When a person under the age of twenty-two has a spouse and/or
child(ren) of his or her own, the spouse and child(ren) of the person must also
be included in the same assistance group.
(5) Person under parental control: persons
(excluding children for whom the following payments are received: foster care,
guardianship, kinship support program, or state kinship guardianship assistance
program when the child is not also in receipt of Ohio works first (OWF)) under
eighteen years of age and unmarried living with and are under the parental
control of another household member who is not their natural, adoptive, or step
parent (including children for whom federal kinship guardianship assistance
program payments are received, or state kinship guardianship assistance program
payments are received and the child is also in receipt of OWF) shall be treated
as customarily purchasing and preparing meals together for home consumption
even when they do not do so. Note: "parental control" refers to unmarried
minors who are dependents-financial or otherwise-of another household member as
opposed to independent units. Persons under age eighteen who are married are
considered emancipated and are not to be automatically considered as
customarily purchasing and preparing meals together unless they state they are
actually doing so.
(6) Elderly and
disabled individual: although a group of individuals living together and
purchasing and preparing meals together constitutes a single assistance group
based on paragraph (A)(2) of this rule, an otherwise eligible member of such an
assistance group who is sixty years of age or older and unable to purchase and
prepare meals because he/she suffers from a disability considered permanent
under the Social Security Act of 1935 or suffers from a non disease-related,
severe, permanent disability may be a separate assistance group from the
others, other than his spouse, provided the income (all income included in rule
5101:4-4-19 of the
Administrative Code) of the others with whom the individual resides (excluding
the income of the spouse of the elderly and disabled individual) does not
exceed one hundred sixty-five per cent of the poverty level (FSP-14 "Separate
Assistance Group Income Standards-Elderly and Disabled Assistance Groups
Only").
(7)
An unaccompanied minor: a homeless individual who is not
living with their parent(s) (natural, adopted, or step) and is not under the
parental control of a household member as described in paragraph (A)(5) of this
rule. While some homeless minors may fall under parental control of a
non-parent household member, other homeless minors are not.
(B) What shall the county agency
do when an individual claims to be in a separate assistance group from those
with whom they reside?
Individuals who claim to be a separate assistance group from
those with whom they reside shall be responsible for providing verification
that they are a separate assistance group to the satisfaction of the county
agency. Final determinations of living arrangements shall be made on a
case-by-case basis, using reasonable judgment based on the circumstances of the
particular living arrangement, and need not be reflective of these guidelines
should other more conclusive factors be involved. For the purpose of
determining whether people are living together, consideration shall be given
to, but not limited to the following:
(1) Separate address
The county agency shall consider whether the persons involved
have addresses that are commonly recognized as separate in the
community.
(2) Separate
utilities
The county agency shall consider whether the persons involved
have separate utility meters and are, therefore, billed separately by the
utility companies.
(3)
Separate entrances
The county agency shall consider whether the persons involved
have separate entrances to their living quarters, and whether such entrances
require passing through one living quarter in order to gain access to
another.
(4) Opinion of the
landlord
The county agency shall consider whether the owner of the
property considers the property to contain separate units.
(C) Which non-assistance group
members are eligible to participate as separate assistance groups?
For the purpose of defining an assistance group under paragraph
(A) of this rule, the following individuals shall not be included as a member
of the assistance group unless specifically included as an assistance group
member under paragraph (A)(3) (spouses), (A)(4) (parents living with their
children), or (A)(5) (person under parental control) of this rule, and shall
not be included as a member of the assistance group for the purposes of
determining assistance group size, eligibility, or benefit level. The income
and resources of such individuals shall be handled in accordance with rule
5101:4-6-15 of the
Administrative Code. The following individuals (when otherwise eligible) may
participate as separate assistance groups:
(1) Roomers
Individuals to whom an assistance group furnishes lodging for
compensation, but not meals.
(2) Live-in attendants
Individuals who reside with an assistance group to provide
medical, housekeeping, child care, or other similar personal services.
(3) Other
Other individuals who share living quarters with the assistance
group but who do not customarily purchase food and prepare meals with the
assistance group. For example, when an applicant family shares living quarters
with another family to save on rent, but does not purchase and prepare food
together with that family, the members of the other family are not members of
the applicant assistance group.
(D) Which non-assistance group members are
ineligible to participate as separate assistance groups?
Some assistance group members are ineligible to receive
benefits under the provisions of the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008. Others may
become ineligible for such reasons as being disqualified for committing an
intentional program violation or refusing to comply with a regulatory
requirement. These individuals shall be included as a member of the assistance
group for the purpose of defining an assistance group in accordance with this
rule. However, such individuals shall not be included as eligible members of
the assistance group when determining the assistance group's size for the
purpose of comparing the assistance group's monthly income with an income
eligibility standard or assigning a benefit level by assistance group size.
These individuals are not eligible to participate as separate assistance
groups. Ineligible individuals include the following:
(1) Ineligible aliens are those individuals
who do not meet the citizenship or eligible alien status. See rule
5101:4-6-13 of the
Administrative Code for how to treat the income, resources, and expenses of
these individuals.
(2) A person
disqualified for intentional program violation is one who has been disqualified
in accordance with Chapter 5101:6-20 of the Administrative Code. See rule
5101:4-6-13 of the
Administrative Code for how to treat the income, resources, and expenses of
these individuals.
(3) Persons who
have been disqualified for failure to provide a social security number as
provided for in rule
5101:4-3-24 of the
Administrative Code are ineligible to participate. See rule
5101:4-6-13 of the
Administrative Code for how to treat the income, resources, and expenses of
these individuals.
(4) An
individual who is disqualified for refusing or failing to comply with a work
requirement of rule
5101:4-3-11 of the
Administrative Code. See rule
5101:4-6-13 of the
Administrative Code for how to treat the income, resources, and expenses of
these individuals.
(5) Persons
enrolled in an institution of higher education on at least a half-time basis
who fail to meet the eligibility criteria in accordance with rule
5101:4-6-04 of the
Administrative Code are ineligible to participate. See rule
5101:4-6-15 of the
Administrative Code for how to treat the income, resources, and expenses of
these individuals.
(6) No member of
an assistance group who is otherwise eligible to participate in the
supplemental nutrition assistance program (SNAP) shall be eligible to
participate as a member of that or any other assistance group during any period
during which the individual is determined to be a fleeing felon or a probation
or parole violator, in accordance with this paragraph. See rule
5101:4-6-13 of the
Administrative Code for how to treat the income, resources, and expenses of
these individuals.
(a) When the county agency
has information that an individual may be fleeing to avoid prosecution or
arrest for a felony, the county agency shall obtain documentary evidence of the
following before imposing ineligibility under this rule:
(i) There is an outstanding felony warrant
for the individual issued by a federal, state, or local law enforcement agency,
and the underlying cause for the warrant is for committing or attempting to
commit a crime that is a felony under the law of the place from which the
individual is fleeing or a high misdemeanor under the law of New
Jersey;
(ii) Considering all the
relevant facts and circumstances, a reasonable person would conclude that the
individual is aware of, or should reasonably have been able to expect that, the
felony warrant has already or would have been issued;
(iii) Considering all the relevant facts and
circumstances, a reasonable person would conclude that the individual has taken
some action to avoid being arrested or jailed; and,
(iv) A federal, state, or local law
enforcement agency is actively seeking the individual as provided in paragraph
(D)(6)(c) of this rule.
(b) When the county agency has information
that an individual may have violated a condition of probation or parole imposed
under a federal or state law, the county agency shall obtain documentary
evidence of the following before imposing ineligibility under this rule:
(i) A court of competent jurisdiction or the
adult parole authority has determined that the individual has violated a
condition of his or her probation or parole imposed under a federal or state
law; and,
(ii) A federal, state, or
local law enforcement agency is actively seeking the individual to enforce the
conditions of the probation or parole as described in paragraph (D)(6)(c) of
this rule.
(c) The
county agency shall obtain documentary evidence of whether the law enforcement
agency is actively seeking the individual when determining the eligibility of a
fleeing felon or an individual who has violated a condition of his or her
probation or parole imposed under a federal or state law.
(i) For purposes of this rule, "actively
seeking" is defined as follows:
(a) A federal,
state, or local law enforcement agency informs the county agency that it
intends to enforce an outstanding felony warrant or to arrest an individual for
a probation or parole violation within twenty days of submitting a request for
information about the individual to the county agency;
(b) A federal, state, or local law
enforcement agency presents a felony arrest warrant that conforms to one of the
following national crime information center uniform offense classification
codes to the county agency to obtain information on the location of and other
information about the individual named in the warrant:
(i) Escape (4901);
(ii) Flight to avoid (4902); or,
(iii) Flight-escape (4999); or,
(c) A federal, state, or local law
enforcement agency informs the county agency that it intends to enforce an
outstanding felony warrant or to arrest an individual for a probation or parole
violation within thirty days of the date of a request from a county agency
about a specific outstanding felony warrant or probation or parole
violation.
(ii) When the
law enforcement agency indicates that it does intend to enforce the felony
warrant or arrest the individual for the probation or parole violation within
thirty days of the date of the county agency's inquiry, the county agency will
postpone taking any action on the case until the thirty day period has expired
and shall verify with the law enforcement agency after the thirty days whether
it has attempted to execute the felony warrant or arrest the probation or
parole violator.
(a) When the law enforcement
agency has attempted to execute the felony warrant or arrest the probation or
parole violator within the thirty days, the county agency shall deny an
applicant or terminate a participant who has been determined to be a fleeing
felon or a probation or parole violator in accordance with paragraph (K)(4) of
rule 5101:4-7-01 of the
Administrative Code. When law enforcement subsequently indicates that it no
longer intends to enforce the felony warrant or arrest the individual for the
probation or parole violation, the county agency shall not consider the
individual a fleeing felon or probation or parole violator as of the date law
enforcement made its decision and shall document the case file
accordingly.
(b) When the law
enforcement agency has not taken any action within the thirty days, the county
agency shall not consider the individual a fleeing felon or probation or parole
violator and shall document the case file accordingly.
(iii) When the law enforcement agency
indicates that it does not intend to enforce the felony warrant or arrest the
individual for the probation or parole violation within thirty days of the date
of the county agency's inquiry about the warrant, the county agency shall
determine that the individual is not a fleeing felon or a probation or parole
violator and document the case file accordingly.
(d) When awaiting verification and/or
determining if an individual is a fleeing felon or probation or parole
violator, the county agency shall continue to process the application in
accordance with the timeframes described in rule
5101:4-2-11 of the
Administrative Code. The county agency shall verify fleeing felon or probation
or parole violator status in accordance with paragraph (D)(6)(a) or (D)(6)(b)
of this rule. Once verification is received and it is determined that an
individual is a fleeing felon or probation or parole violator, the county
agency shall impose ineligibility for the individual and redetermine the
assistance group's eligibility. For purposes of processing a change in benefits
in accordance with paragraph (K)(4) of rule
5101:4-7-01 of the
Administrative Code or calculating claims, an individual is not considered to
be a fleeing felon or probation or parole violator until the date the county
agency has made a determination in accordance with paragraph (D)(6) of this
rule.
(7) No member of
an assistance group who is otherwise eligible to participate in SNAP is to be
eligible to participate as a member of an assistance group during any period
which the individual is determined to be convicted of and out of compliance
with their sentence for certain crimes committed on or after February 7, 2014.
See rule
5101:4-6-13 of the
Administrative Code for how to treat the income, resources, and expenses of
these individuals.
(a) Individuals who self
attest to a conviction as an adult and who are out of compliance with their
sentence for the following crimes:
(i)
Aggravated sexual abuse 18
U.S.C. 2241 (12/2007);
(ii) Murder
18 U.S.C.
1111 (4/2003);
(iii) An offense under 18 U.S.C. Chapter 110
(as in effect on 7/1/19);
(iv) A
federal or state offense involving sexual assault, as defined in section
40002(a) of the Violence Against Women Act of 1994 (42 U.S.C.
13925(a)); or
(v) An offense under state law determined by
the attorney general of the United States, to be substantially similar to an
offense described in paragraphs (D)(7)(a)(i) to (D)(7)(a)(iii) of this
rule.
(b) The county
agency is to verify attestations, when questionable, as described in rule
5101:4-2-09 of the
Administrative Code. When awaiting verification and/or determining if an
individual is convicted of and is out of compliance with their sentence for a
crime described in paragraph (D)(7) of this rule, the county agency is to
continue to process the application in accordance with the timeframes described
in rule
5101:4-2-11 of the
Administrative Code.
(8)
For individual(s) who have failed to perform an action required under rule
5101:4-3-09 of the
Administrative Code, see rule
5101:4-6-13 of the
Administrative Code for how to treat the income, resources, and expenses of
these individuals.
(9) For persons
ineligible under rule
5101:4-3-20 of the
Administrative Code, the time limit for able-bodied adults without dependents,
see rule
5101:4-6-13 of the
Administrative Code for how to treat the income, resources, and expenses of
these individuals.
(E)
Which individuals or groups are ineligible for SNAP?
(1) Boarders, individuals in foster care,
children for whom guardianship payments are received in accordance with rule
5101:4-1-03 of the
Administrative Code, children for whom kinship support payments are received as
described in rule
5101:2-42-18.2 of the
Administrative Code, and children for whom state kinship guardianship
assistance program payments are received as described in rule
5101:2-56-01 of the
Administrative Code when the child is not in receipt of OWF.
Boarders are defined as individuals or groups of individuals
residing with others and paying reasonable compensation to the others for
lodging and meals (excluding residents of a commercial boarding house).
Boarders are also defined as adults or children who have been placed in foster
care by a government agency, children receiving guardianship payments as
defined in rule
5101:4-1-03 of the
Administrative Code, and children for whom kinship support payments are
received as described in rule
5101:2-42-18.2 of the
Administrative Code. Boarders are ineligible to participate in the program as
independent assistance groups. They may, however, participate as members of the
assistance group providing the boarder services to them, at such assistance
group's request pursuant to rule
5101:4-6-03 of the
Administrative Code. In no event shall boarder status be granted to those
individuals or groups of individuals described in paragraphs (A)(2) to (A)(5)
of this rule.
(2) Residents of
institutions
Residents of public institutions who apply for SSI prior to
their release from an institution under the social security administration's
prerelease program for the institutionalized shall be permitted to apply for
SNAP at the same time they apply for SSI. Individuals shall be considered
residents of an institution if the institution provides them with the majority
of their meals (over fifty per cent of three meals daily) as part of the
institution's normal services. Residents of institutions are not eligible for
participation in the program, with the following exceptions:
(a) Residents of federally subsidized housing
for the elderly built under either section 202 of the Housing Act of 1959
(12 U.S.C.
1701) (2013) or section 236 of the National
Housing Act (12 U.S.C
1701).
(b) Narcotic addicts or alcoholics together
with their children who, for the purposes of regular participation in a drug or
alcohol treatment and rehabilitation program, reside at a facility or treatment
center.
(c) Disabled or blind
individuals, as defined in rule
5101:4-1-03 of the
Administrative Code, who are residents of group homes, as described in rule
5101:4-1-03 of the
Administrative Code. (See rule
5101:4-6-26 of the
Administrative Code for full details on certification of group home
residents.)
(d) Women or women with
their children temporarily residing in a shelter for battered women and
children. Such persons temporarily residing in shelters for battered women and
children shall be considered individual assistance group units for the purpose
of applying for and participating in SNAP.
(e) Residents of public or private shelters
for homeless persons.
(3) Strikers
Assistance groups with striking members shall be ineligible to
participate unless the assistance group was eligible for benefits the day prior
to the strike and is otherwise eligible at the time of application. Assistance
groups where the member on strike is exempt from work registration requirements
the day prior to the strike (other than those exempt solely on the grounds that
they are employed) would not be affected by the striker provisions and could be
eligible for program benefits.
